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Exactly. There are plenty of "I'm so happy" moments in sports that opponents take perhaps unfair exception to, but Gomez came off like a sneering jerk. It's not even just "look at me" - it's also "look what I just did to you!"

TFA also is pretty condescending to Hispanics, as if all of them can't help but show that hot-bloodedness or something. And plenty of showboats are from other cultures, anyway.

I'll never understand why it's OK for football, basketball and soccer players to celebrate great plays, but baseball players are supposed to stifle their emotion for fear of "showing up" the other team. The double standard is nonsensical and counterproductive to baseball's growth.

Because those other sports are inferior to baseball and require childish, professional wrestling type theatrics to keep the mouth breathers entertained.

There's also an element of denigrating his opponent, as there is with, say, the post-dunk staredown in basketball.

And what exactly is wrong with that? Embrace it! It works in professional wrestling. We should have villains and good guys, with the villains showing up the good guys by going against the polite decorum of the unwritten rules.

Rule 91.5 (c) - Each base, including home plate, shall have its own turnbuckle. Players may carom or jump off any turnbuckle to get a running start to the next base, or they may leap from any turnbuckle to knock opposing fielders to the ground. A few designated players may, on occasion, bite any of the turnbuckles while on base, strewing the contents of said turnbuckle about the field. Said player should be unusually hirsute, with a Neanderthal demeanor. He is not permitted to speak but may grunt or yell in triumph or agitation.

EDIT: Addendum: Players permitted to bite the turnbuckle shall not, under any circumstances, wear any apparel above the waist, regardless of weather conditions or the airborne presence of angrily tossed folding chairs.

TFA also is pretty condescending to Hispanics, as if all of them can't help but show that hot-bloodedness or something. And plenty of showboats are from other cultures, anyway.

Bryce Harper for example has been accused by some of not showing sufficient respect for his opponents and the game, and he's a white kid from Las Vegas.

It sure would be nice if the "mainstream" media could occasionally refrain from trying to turn everything into a racial or ethnic issue, but they just can't seem to help it with their Borg collective-like hive mentality.

Remember when Bud threated Hank Steinbrenner with sanctions for criticizing his Glorious Redistribution Scheme? Bud fancies himself a king. Shame on all the lickspittles who encouraged his imperial airs.

Disagree that Gomez is merely "having fun" or "enjoying himself." There's also an element of denigrating his opponent, as there is with, say, the post-dunk staredown in basketball.

And somehow in basketball "showing up" your opponent doesn't lead to bench clearing brawls. You basically have to lose your shvt to get into a fight in basketball and with the rules in place players rarely leave the bench as well.

And somehow in basketball "showing up" your opponent doesn't lead to bench clearing brawls. You basically have to lose your shvt to get into a fight in basketball and with the rules in place players rarely leave the bench as well.

Part of the bench clearing issue in baseball is the uneven number of players on the field... from 4 to 7 for the offense (counting coaches and guy in on-deck circle) vs 9 for the defense. Still, MLB should put in a rule much like the NHL did years ago to stop bench clearing - if you leave the dugout or bullpen you get suspended. Period.

Part of the bench clearing issue in baseball is the uneven number of players on the field... from 4 to 7 for the offense (counting coaches and guy in on-deck circle) vs 9 for the defense. Still, MLB should put in a rule much like the NHL did years ago to stop bench clearing - if you leave the dugout or bullpen you get suspended. Period.

It will never work for the first reason you listed, plus a few more. Players in the dugout will not allow one teammate to get his ass kicked by three or four guys in the field. And catchers won't allow his pitcher to get attacked by a hitter without stepping in. So, rule be damned, you'll have odd-man fights and benches cleared. So it won't do anything (or almost nothing) to prevent bench-clearing incidents, while it will result in uneven punishments when those incidents occur. And, of course, baseball doesn't have a penalty box, or any kind of intermediate, team-damaging penalty between nothing and ejection.

It will never work for the first reason you listed, plus one more. Players in the dugout will not allow one teammate to get his ass kicked by three or four guys in the field. And catchers won't allow his pitcher to get attacked by a hitter without stepping in. So, rule be damned, you'll have odd-man fights and benches cleared. So it won't do anything (or almost nothing) to prevent bench-clearing incidents, while it will result in uneven punishments when those incidents occur.

I disagree. The majority of fights are started by batters charging the mound. If hitters know their teammates won't join them then they won't be charging the mound.

Also, you can implement the same style rule as the NHL for other players on the field. Just as the NHL does not permit the "3rd man in" so too should MLB. If the hitter charges the mound the pitcher and him can kill each other but anyone from any other position who joins the show is suspended just as a player coming off the bench would be.

I know the counterargument is that you can't change the culture but I highly doubt the fighting is more of a cultural part of baseball than it was for hockey 30-40 years ago and they got rid of those sorts of melees pretty easily.

Who needs a brawl when you get multiple opportunities to "hard foul" someone and stay in the game? And furthermore, pro basketball is unwatchable for this, among other reasons. It's a cartoon, and a badly paced one at that.

Disagree that Gomez is merely "having fun" or "enjoying himself." There's also an element of denigrating his opponent, as there is with, say, the post-dunk staredown in basketball.

I don't mind a bit of denigrating the opponent. Pitchers get to strut a little after strikeouts.

And then, since this is the case, he's hot-triggered when his opponent says something back to him.

This, however...if Gomez wants to be allowed to run his mouth, he should expect that the other guys are going to do the same thing. It's possible to indulge in good-natured smack talk and take your opponents' responses with good humor. That's not what Gomez is doing.

I disagree. The majority of fights are started by batters charging the mound. If hitters know their teammates won't join them then they won't be charging the mound.

I doubt that. And not all fights are started by the hitter charging the mound, so those situations would result in that same uneven problem, without the ability to say "you get what you deserved."

Also, you can implement the same style rule as the NHL for other players on the field. Just as the NHL does not permit the "3rd man in" so too should MLB. If the hitter charges the mound the pitcher and him can kill each other but anyone from any other position who joins the show is suspended just as a player coming off the bench would be.

This is simply false. Catchers will not let their pitchers take on a batter hell-bent on revenge without intervening (at least, it will be a very long time for that kind of change in attitude to take place). But for the foreseeable future it will not happen, no matter what rules baseball puts in place. And once it goes 2 on 1, I don't think you can expect the other dominoes won't fall.

Obviously, you can implement either of these policies. But if you're goal is to curb the practices, rather than simply punish, I don't think either will be effective, and may actually be counterproductive to injury prevention.

I know the counterargument is that you can't change the culture but I highly doubt the fighting is more of a cultural part of baseball than it was for hockey 30-40 years ago and they got rid of those sorts of melees pretty easily.

Fighting is still part of the culture, which makes policing it somewhat easier (just curious - if some goon starts beating up on a Gretzky type, do Gretzky's teammates just let that happen or does a fellow tough guy say "damn the penalty" and step in).

And again, just as with umpire arguments, the penalty box (or 15-yard penalty) works as a deterrent to some of these things. And those are things baseball doesn't have. Ejections simply aren't viewed as penalties against the team.

Still, MLB should put in a rule much like the NHL did years ago to stop bench clearing - if you leave the dugout or bullpen you get suspended. Period.

I still think its kinda odd this is part of the game with pretty much no legal ramifications. So if two guys brawl in the parking lot, they'd probably be arrested, but two guys on the field doing the exact same thing is legal somehow.

the part Rickey quoted in post no. 3 I dont get. The NFL has gone out of its way to create penalties for celebrations it doesnt like. First it was the choreographed celebrations in the end zone, which I never liked when you have to line up your whole team to re enact Swan Lake or whatever. Then they stopped the strut after the sack, which I didnt really have a problem because that stuff happens so fast. Then they have rules for taking out your sharpie and autographing the ball when you score. This year they've outlawed the dunk over the goal posts. Football is very concerned with this sort of stuff...

Basketball I dont know, but you cant get in people's faces. They ejected Rasheed Wallace for starting at the ref and I guess Lebron got the same thing. I think the NBA has its own way to deal with this, you dont see as many fights as you used to and you see less bench clearing brawls I think.

I guess you really have to look at this on a sport by sport basis as well as what is spontaneous and what is not. They are not going to ban home plat congratualations, they are not gonna ban high fives in the OF.

So if two guys brawl in the parking lot, they'd probably be arrested, but two guys on the field doing the exact same thing is legal somehow.

It's a good pt. but if you go a little deeper there have been legal cases brought for stuff like this. I think in Italy someone got jailed for a hit in soccer. I think there was a lawsuit with Kermit Washington/Tomjanovich. In the NHL there have been any number of lawsuits but most of them get dismissed or minor penalty; even Steve Bertuzzi did not go to jail:

I know, the famous case they teach in law school is Hackbarth, where a Bengals player beat up an opposing player. Its just...weird that its accepted.

Ed Farmer did press charges against Al Cowens in the 70s for tearing his nostrils during a brawl. Cowens had cops waiting for him the next time he returned to Chicago. But Farmer dropped the charges in exchange for a handshake.

but baseball players are supposed to stifle their emotion for fear of "showing up" the other team.

Huh?

How many times have we seen walk-off hits celebrated by the entire team on the field?
I'm pretty sure I'm witnessing "emotion" when the dugout empties on the field to celebrate with the player at home (or chasing him around the diamond if it's not a walk-off home run).
The opposition never seems to get upset when that happens...

I know, the famous case they teach in law school is Hackbarth, where a Bengals player beat up an opposing player. Its just...weird that its accepted.

At the same time, running full speed at a stationary individual, lowering your shoulder and drilling him in the midsection would likely get you arrested in real life, but it's not only acceptable, it's the very way the game is supposed to be played. With that, I think it's not hard to understand why certain conduct is accepted on the field that wouldn't be tolerated elsewhere.

I'm pretty sure I'm witnessing "emotion" when the dugout empties on the field to celebrate with the player at home (or chasing him around the diamond if it's not a walk-off home run). The opposition never seems to get upset when that happens...

There's a lot more room for celebration if the game has just ended dramatically. You're celebrating the win with your team. Even if that ball clears the wall, Gomez would have been pimp-walking his own solo homer, which may not have contributed to a team win at all, or may have been one of five or six runs in a team win. Even in that regard, if you absolutely blast a HR into the 2nd deck, players will understand a step or two of pimping it as you watch it fly, as long as you put your head down and run it out afterwards. (The Barry Bonds.) But if you hit a ball that maybe, on a good day, might scrape over the top of the wall, but in all actuality bounces off of it and should have been a long single if the CF plays it correctly? You're pimp walking that? No. That's not cool.

That's a bit different though, that is literally how you play the game (and it has been outlawed).

How has that been outlawed? That's about the only way you're allowed to sack the quarterback now.

Brawls don't really serve as an integral part of the game.

The point being, you have a workplace that is fundamentally different, where violent behavior is legal and routine. Given that, it shouldn't be hard to understand why other kinds of violent conduct there are treated differently than they are in the outside world.

I really abhor violence in real life, but for some reason (I'm immature or haven't really thought it through, probably?) the number of baseball "brawls" doesn't really bother me that much. While real-life fights are incredibly sad to me, baseball fights seem so removed from that, with so few consequences (people almost never seem to actually get hurt, no one goes to jail, the guys involved are millionaires, and aren't on a downward spiral that will probably lead to their premature death or destroying their lives) that they seem kind of amusing to me. I find their awkwardness and ineffectiveness almost endearing.

Still, I don't think what Cole said were really fighting words. Gomez' reaction to Cole should have been, "Yeah, next time I'll hit one farther" or a simple "Go f*** yourself" or some combination of the two. If Cole insults his mom, or says some racial stuff or whatever, sure, go nuts. Now I wonder if Gomez was embarrassed and couldn't come up with a good response fast enough and got mad.

But if you hit a ball that maybe, on a good day, might scrape over the top of the wall, but in all actuality bounces off of it and should have been a long single if the CF plays it correctly? You're pimp walking that? No. That's not cool.

All these unwritten rules. Someone should carve them in stone or something.

But if you hit a ball that maybe, on a good day, might scrape over the top of the wall, but in all actuality bounces off of it and should have been a long single if the CF plays it correctly? You're pimp walking that? No. That's not cool.

Gomez said after the game that the reason he didn't run out of the box was not because he thought it was going out, but because he thought McCutchen was going to catch it (which, as I said yesterday, is less defensible, but I don't think anyone "pimp walks" an F-8).

All these unwritten rules. Someone should carve them in stone or something.

Not really. People who actually pay attention to the game of baseball understand them just fine.

Gomez said after the game that the reason he didn't run out of the box was not because he thought it was going out, but because he thought McCutchen was going to catch it (which, as I said yesterday, is less defensible, but I don't think anyone "pimp walks" an F-8).

Not really. People who actually pay attention to the game of baseball understand them just fine.

And people who want to get huffy about nonsense will get huffy about nonsense. One man's fist pump hop is another man's FU strut. If you're gonna get all indignant and righteous about it every time someone wants to show some emotion, perhaps sports shouldn't be your thing.

Not really. People who actually pay attention to the game of baseball understand them just fine.

You mean like Matt Garza, who got mad at the A's for forcing him to field bunts last year? Yea, when you allow a culture of unwritten rules, nonsense like that is allowed to persist, even if everyone else thinks it's crazy.

You mean like Matt Garza, who got mad at the A's for forcing him to field bunts last year?

Not at all. Garza's lack of fundamentals and his head case pissing of his pants when teams exploit his failures in that regard are completely on him. And Bo Porter was completely wrong to ##### at Jed Lowrie for bunting against the shift. (If you're going to shift a hitter, suck it up and accept that he may bunt against it.) That you thing Garza's insanity is similar to this suggests you don't understand baseball.

Who needs a brawl when you get multiple opportunities to "hard foul" someone and stay in the game? And furthermore, pro basketball is unwatchable for this, among other reasons. It's a cartoon, and a badly paced one at that.

Dikembe Mutombo got hard fouled? In basketball showing the other guy up is part of the culture consequently you don't everybody stop what their doing and fight over every little thing that might be perceived as a slight.

Dikembe Mutombo got hard fouled? In basketball showing the other guy up is part of the culture consequently you don't everybody stop what their doing and fight over every little thing that might be perceived as a slight.

I find it interesting that basketball has developed a culture of selfish play despite there being a clear benefit to playing unselfishly, while baseball has its honor code despite being the rare team sport in which acting selfishly is almost always good for the team.

All these unwritten rules. Someone should carve them in stone or something.

Not really. People who actually pay attention to the game of baseball understand them just fine.

Obviously not since there seems to be lots of players/managers who are participating in the game of baseball (which I assume is actually a step above "paying attention") who are breaking these "unwritten rules".

Otherwise, we wouldn't be seeing these things (brawls/whining) happen all the time.

I find it interesting that basketball has developed a culture of selfish play despite there being a clear benefit to playing unselfishly, while baseball has its honor code despite being the rare team sport in which acting selfishly is almost always good for the team.

Except basketball doesn't have a culture of selfish play. There are selfish players to be sure, just like there are in every sport but basketball has a culture of team play.